Friendship Knows No Boundaries
by Reese M
Summary: A young River Song once met a young H.G. Wells a friendship was formed that would last throughout time. Its been over 100 years since River & Helena have seen each other and then one day they both decided to take a walk in the park. River Song H.G. Wells friendship. Bering/Wells paring. Same world as my other Who piece. Written after realizing how awesome this friendship would be.


It had been a cold wet winter but now that spring was in full force the sun was warm and the air fresh, clean and heavily fragrant with flowers and things newly green. The park was buzzing with people enjoying London in springtime, but not overly so. River Song wanted to enjoy the nice weather without the fuss of people so she'd avoided the higher end parks and tourist areas. She wanted to enjoy the quiet, the peace of being alone for a few moments. The Doctor had shown up on her doorstep with excitement in his eyes and off they went, her Doctor, their daughter and River Song, on an adventure that ended like most of their adventures did, with lots of running and handcuffs.

There was a soft smile on River's lips as she made her way to a bench tucked away behind a tall hedge. Settling onto the cool stone she raised her tea filled paper cup to her lips as she soaked in the sun and watched the people passing by. She use to walk the paths of this park quite a bit in her past. The curves of the trails, the shapes of the trees, the way the light reflected off the small pond, were all familiar to her and she found it both comforting and sad. The time she spent here was normally spent with one of her closest and dearest friends, a brilliant woman who was ahead of her time; an inventor, a writer, whose work had been credited to someone else just because she'd been a woman.

The vortex manipulator she used now, the one she'd gotten from Dorium, wasn't her first. The first one she'd had she'd stolen from a rather handsome Time Agent after a weekend full of drink and perhaps a small vile of something that would keep him from remembering her. The first time River used the device she appeared in London, not far from this very park, in 1884. It had left her feeling nauseous and wobbly on her feet. Things could have gone very wrong for River in those moments following her first jump but as fate would have it the person who'd come across her was a beautiful, raven haired young woman with big brown eyes and a warm smile. Helena didn't say a word about River's odd clothes or unsteady appearance, she simply showed genuine concern about her well being and insisted on taking River back to her home saying, "You'll feel much better once your warm and you've had a bit of tea."

Helena, who River would soon learn was Helena G. Wells of London, the woman the world would end up knowing as H.G. Wells and by her brother's face, was almost as bad when it came to flirting as she was. She was also incredibly brilliant, dead clever, and full of wonderful dreams about the future. It was only natural that the two women became fast friends almost instantly. River returned again and again to see Helena, always being mindful of the timeline so that for Helena it would seem as if months, perhaps a full year had passed. Helena believed River was traveling the world, or at least that's what River thought she'd thought. As their friendship grew, as time went on, River began to suspect that Helena might have worked a few things out. The long debates that lasted well into the night about time travel had been a really good red flag that Helena might be getting close to the truth, but River couldn't stop herself from going back to the amazing woman she had befriended. Especially after the two had become lovers, an aspect of their relationship they would pick up and put down repeatedly over the course of their time together.

When Helena's daughter Christina was murdered River was there for her friend. She did her best to console and comfort Helena. She even tried to help. That had been River's first lesson in fixed points in time. It had also been the first time she'd run into the Doctor with a different face. Four always was a bit of a condescending ass, and it had taken her a long time to forgiven him for not allowing her to save Christina. She couldn't understand how saving an innocent child from being murdered would change something so vitally important to the future. She understood now, she understood in a first hand way that sometimes bad things just had to happened so good things could bloom from it, but it didn't make the pain hurt any less. The grief she remembered Helena going through still hurt River, in fact it hurt more now because it made her think about how crushing it would be if something ever happened to her beautiful little Mia.

After the birth of her own daughter River brought Mia, short for Amelia, along on her visits to Victorian London. For those few hours or days when Helena could focus all her warmth and love on Mia, River saw the woman she was before Christina's death, but the moment they were gone that grief would come crashing back. River had thought Helena was coping, that she was doing her best to move on with her life. Helena had a job she adored, something that fit her perfectly, and she was still inventing, still building, still giving her brother all her best ideas for the novels no one knew she was responsible for. But there was something River couldn't, or wouldn't, see under the surface. A flicker of something that if she were honest with herself scared River because it reminded her to much of something deep inside herself. Then, before River had a chance to step up and help her friend, Helena was gone. She'd just disappeared.

She'd looked for Helena. She'd looked throughout time and space for her, but it was as if her friend had just slipped out of existence, swept away with the turning of the new century. Loosing her friend like that had never felt right to River, she'd known deep inside something was off, something was wrong, but there was little she could do. Besides, her life was pretty hectic and full with the Doctor. She'd been consumed by him, and even though she wouldn't trade any of it for all the riches in reality, she did feel bad that her friendship with Helena slipped so easily from her grasp the way it did, that she hadn't looked harder, longer, for her.

Oh how Helena would have loved the Doctor, and the Tardis, Helena would have been in heaven if she'd ever been given the chance to see the Tardis. River smiled, her mind flooding with memories of her friend. It had been a long time since she'd allowed herself this much indolence into her memories of Helena. Maybe it was because she was in their park, maybe it had something to do with Helena's birthday which was creeping closer, or maybe it was finding a copy of The Time Machine in her library, whatever it was, River couldn't seem to stop thinking about her, about Helena. What had become of her friend? What had happened to that brilliant, funny, clever, charming woman River had spent so much time with and cared about so deeply?

River was so lost in her memories and thoughts of Helena, so focused on the woman, that she thought she heard her voice. That beautiful, deep, sultry voice that had once upon a time sent thrilling chills down River's spine.

"I haven't come through this park in quiet some time."

"Why?" An American voice asked. "Other then obvious reasons."

There was a long pause before the very simple and yet sad reply. "Memories."

Standing, River turned quickly towards the sound of the voices. Walking along the path were two women, one with brown curly hair, an American accent, and warm eyes that seemed to shift between brown and green depending on the light. She was walking close to and holding the hand of a taller woman with long, raven black hair, and big brown eyes. It took a lot to make River Song gasp in surprise, it took more to out right shock her, but when the taller woman smiled River did indeed gasp because that was Helena's smile, warming Helena's face, and lighting up Helena's eyes. But how on earth could that be Helena?

The gasp was soft but to two well-trained special agents it might as well have been a scream. Both women looked in River's direction and when they did it was the taller woman's turn to gasp. Letting go of Myka's hand, Helena took several steps closer to the very curly haired, green eyed, blonde that was staring at her as if looking at a ghost. Their eyes met and a jolt of recognition coursed through each of them, and yet Helena said, "This is impossible."

River's heart jumped at the sound of Helena's voice so close. "Is it?"

"River?" Helena asked her eyes still locked with the blonde's.

"Hello Helena." River said with a smile so bright it put the sun to shame.

Helena shook her head in disbelief. After everything each of them had been through, everything they'd seen and done in their exceptional lives, standing there in their park looking at each other after all this time, after finding the other in their thoughts and memories for the last couple of days, it was just so surreal. "It can't be you." Helena said, unable to shake off the shock of seeing River again. "Can it?"

There was only one way to break the uncertainty between them. One way for them both to be absolutely sure they weren't dreaming, or trapped in a time hiccup, or being affected by an artifact. River stepped closer to Helena and kissed her. It was a little more than a gentle brush of lips, tender, loving, but hardly a kiss of passion or desire. Those days for them were long gone, each content and at home in the hearts of their loves. But it was a good kiss, a nice kiss, one that left both women grinning from ear to ear at its end.

"Dear god it is you." Helena said breathlessly. "River."

The women embraced, their eyes feeling the first burn of tears. "It's been a long, long, time my friend." River said into Helena's ear, her voice thick with emotion. Then she pulled away from Helena, taking a step back. River's bright green eyes locked with Helena's brown ones, as she demanded, "What the hell happened to you?"

Helena couldn't help but laugh at her friend's sudden shift in moods. "It's a long, long, story." She looked River over and her smile grew. The woman looked almost the same as she had the last time she'd seen her, barely a touch older. "And apparently old friend you have a story of your own to tell. You look as if we've been apart for a year or two rather then a hundred."

"Wait," Myka said, finally shaking herself from the shock of watching a stranger kiss her girlfriend. "What does that mean? You haven't seen each other in a hundred years?"

"Oh!" Helena said with a slight squeak of embarrassment. "Oh, Myka, darling, I…" Forgot she'd been there, but she was smart enough not to say that out loud. "Come, I want you to meet someone."

Myka stepped closer, retaking Helena's hand, and giving River a rather territorial look.

"Myka, this is River Song." Helena introduced. "She's a very old and very dear friend." Those bright brown eyes turned to River as she continued. "River, I'd like you to meet Myka Bering. The woman I love and who has so graciously, and rather recently, agreed to be my wife."

River smiled at Myka, a flirty smile that made River's eyes dance. "Wife? Well, you must be someone special. Helena swore she'd never marry. It's very nice to meet you Myka."

"Nice to meet you too, River." Myka replied politely before her annoyance came back and she added, "Wait, you just kissed my girlfriend."

"I did." River purred. "Oh but don't worry dear. I'll ask before I do it again. Maybe."

The look on Myka's face made Helena laugh softly. "She's teasing your darling. River's a bigger flirt than I could ever be."

The squeeze of her hand and the smile Helena was giving her was reassuring and Myka relaxed, but then her initial question returned. "What did the two of you mean it's been a hundred years?"

"Give or take." Helena said before explaining. "The last time I saw River was New Year's Day, 1900. Oh what a party that was!"

"We came back." River said softly. Some of the sadness she felt over loosing her friend came out in the tone of her voice. "We came to spend your birthday with you. But Charles said you were gone, that you'd left without a word. I looked but…"

"We?" Helena said, cutting River off. Then there was a soft almost painful intake of breath. "Amelia."

River smiled warmly, lovingly. "She'll be very happy to see her Aunt Helena again."

Helena gasped. "She's still…"

"She's eight." River said carefully knowing that Mia's age might be a little sharp for Helena to take for several reasons.

Shock and awe played out over Helena's features. "The last time I saw her she was three."

Myka watched the two and their half spoken sentences and blinked. From what she was picking up her mind was going to a certain place as far as an explanation. "Helena." She said firmly, getting her girlfriend's attention right away. "Is this about…"

Helena shook her head and once again squeezed Myka's hand. "This has nothing to do with an artifact, darling."

Myka looked between the two English women before once again settling her gaze on Helena. "Than how?"

Helena smiled as she looked at River. "This is a very old theory finally being proven correct."

"And what would that theory be, dearest?" River asked.

Helena's smile brightened as she said rather simply, "You my darling River Song are a time traveler."

With things about to get weird, or weird for the general public not so weird for the three women involved, it was agreed to move the happy reunion of friends to someplace more private. No one wanted their conversation about artifacts and time travel over heard, no one wanted to send off any pings or draw unwanted attention. So they decided to go to River's home because Helena simply had to see Mia, who was currently in school.

"As far as I know nothing here is an artifact." River said as she carried in a tray with tea.

Myka jumped. On the drive over Helena had told her about her past with River so she knew that River and Helena had been lovers but that had never been the main focus of their relationship. They'd been close friend first and foremost. But Myka was still feeling a little on edge about that, and about River being a time traveler, and now that she was in River's very Victorian styled home she couldn't help herself. She'd been checking the place over for artifacts.

"But you're welcome to look." River added as she set the tray down. "Just try and keep the goo off the rug. It's impossible to get up and often leaves an awful purple stain, which I'd have a devil of time explaining to my mother, who picked out the rug."

Myka spun on her heel to stare first at River and then at Helena. "She knows about artifacts and goo?"

"And the Warehouses." River added while preparing cups of tea.

Helena laughed. "Yes, but I didn't tell her."

"She caught me breaking into Warehouse 12." River admitted. "I need Prince Albert's pocket watch."

"You never did tell me what you needed it for." Helena said as she accepted the cup of tea River had just made for her. She took a sip and smiled. It was perfect, just how she liked it. River had remembered. "Other than being a watch it had no time properties."

"Oh, I didn't need it for its artifact properties." River chuckled. "I needed it to replace the one the Doctor broke."

"The Doctor?" Myka asked.

"My husband." River said as she took her seat. "Brilliant man, rather clumsy at times. Can be a bit of child. He thought it would be a good idea to play croquet indoors after stumbling on an old croquet set. It didn't go so well. I've never seen a croquet ball bounce around like that before."

Helena and Myka shared a knowing look but refrained from saying anything.

"Anyway, the Doctor ended up breaking the watch while he was trying to run from Queen Victoria after the croquet thing woke her and he got caught in the palace." River chuckled as she explained the Doctor tended to leave things bad between himself and several of England's Queens.

The three women chatted, talked, were getting to know each other or catching up, and easing into this whole time traveling long lost friend thing. When talk turned somewhat to the Warehouse River asked, "Did you ever find a way to open Warehouse 2?"

Myka's eyes went wide. "You helped her find Warehouse 2?"

"River's an archeologist. A damn bloody brilliant one at that." Helena explained to Myka before answering River. "I did." And she left it at that. River knew the look that went with Helena's tone so she didn't push. Something Helena wasn't proud of, something she regretted happened and River could tell she didn't want to bring it up.

"So you're a time traveling archeologist?" Myka asked before saying, "Time travel is a physical impossibility. Helena's said so herself. So has Artie."

"It is not as impossible as one might think." River replied.

"How do you do it?" Helena asked.

River chuckled. "I know that look Helena. I'm not showing you. You my brilliant and clever inventor will just reverse engineer it and it's not time for it to be invented yet. Right now it's best left to the imagination and science fiction programs."

"River." Helena said, a spark of old hope gleaming in her eye.

"I know." River said as she looked into those warm brown eyes. "Helena, I know. I tried."

Shock and surprise washed over Helena's face yet again. "What?"

"I went to Paris." River admitted. "I tried to stop it, to prevent it, but…" River paused, her throat thick with regret and sadness. "There are moments in time that just have to happen. They're like the pins that keep the rest of time from unraveling. Fixed points. The events caused by those fixed points, are the events that help things move forward. What happened to Christina, Helena, I'm sorry, but it's one of those fixed points. I know how hard they are to live with, I've had several in my own life, moments I wish I could change but I can't. If there were any way around it I swear to you I would have done it."

Once again Helena's heart broke. Once again Myka's touch, her presence, soothed the hurt.

"Helena." River said softly. "I'm so sorry."

Helena was quite for a moment and then nodded as she reached out and took River's hand reassuringly. "I know. It's all right darling. You're right. The things that happened, they needed too, so that I might be where I am now. Here in this time, at this moment, with Myka."

River watched the way Helena looked at Myka, the way her voice softened, the way her eyes lit up. It had been a long time, far longer then their separation, since River that seen that light in Helena. Myka was good for her and River was thrilled that Helena had finally found peace in her life. "How did you end up here, Helena? I looked for you. You just vanished."

"I was in the Warehouse." Helena said honestly and then began to explain everything. She could tell Myka was uneasy with her telling River about Warehouse matters like the Bronze Sector, but she trusted River. Clearly the woman was an artist when it came to keeping secrets. The pain she saw in River's eyes when she said she'd looked for her. The least Helena could do was tell her why she'd been unable to find her. She hesitated when it came to telling River about what happened after she'd been debronzed, but she did it anyway. River reached out and put her hand on Helena's thigh. Then she told her about Demon's Run, Berlin, and Lake Silencio.

"I knew we were both hopelessly insane." Helena said with a chuckle that melted away the tension that built in the room. "Must have been part of the attraction."

"Among other things." River said teasingly, flirtatiously.

"Is that an English thing?" Myka asked. "The flirting and the innuendo? Or is it just the two of you?"

Both Helena and River laughed. Helena leaned over and kissed Myka gently on the lips and brushed the back of her fingers over the other woman's flushed cheeks. "It's a skill."

"It's an art." River added with a gentle chuckle.

Myka was feeling a little out of place as Helena and River talked. She was use to weird things, the woman she loved was 146 years old, but meeting said girlfriend's Victorian time traveling BFF was weird even for her. But then the conversation turned towards thinks Myka understood, literature, history, Helena's work, and she found that she actually kind of liked River.

"That's what happened to my hallucinogenic lip stick!" Helena exclaimed while smacking River playfully. "I should have known it was you!" Her eyes were sparkling as she asked, "Does it work?"

"Like a charm." River said smugly.

All conversation stopped when the front door opened and closed. River's face lit up while Helena was suddenly holding her breath. Amelia Song had bright green eyes, dark strawberry blonde hair, and an odd affection for galoshes. The three women in the lounge could hear the girl coming even before she burst through the doors a delighted, "Mummy, I'm home! Can I have a Jaffa cake?"

"Mia," River said brightly. "We have guests."

The girl turned to look at Myka and Helena and smiled. "Hello."

"Hello my darling." Helena replied as she took the girl in. She could see River in the girl and it amazed her how beautiful the chubby little toddler she'd known had grown up to be.

"Mia, do you remember when we use to go to my friend in old London?" River asked.

Mia nodded, than her bright green eyes went wide as she remembered. "Auntie Helena!"

It was far from the quiet evening Helena and Myka had planned on having. They stayed well into the evening talking, eating, and playing with Mia. Myka watched from the doorway as Helena played dolls with the girl and then later tucked Mia into bed before telling the girl a story. They knew each other in ways that they didn't even know themselves and for a while now Myka had known that despite having her and the others in her life, Helena had been lonely. A Victorian woman thrust into the future, her way of life, her friends, all gone. Helena had adapted, she was thriving in her new life, thanks in no small part to Myka, but there had always been that lingering feeling of being alone. In one moment of something, destiny, kismet, fate, something, Myka had seen that loneliness melt away. Myka couldn't help but smile as she thought to herself that Helena had found her Pete, that one best friend who made you better for having them in your life.

Helena had been given a link back to everything she'd lost and now she had the best of both of her worlds. She would be forever grateful to whatever force had made her ask Myka if she wanted to talk a walk in the park. And as she and Myka said their goodbyes for the evening after making promises of more visits and phone calls and emails and trips to South Dakota, she and River gave thanks for time machines, be they attached to a leather straps, big blue boxes or made of bronze, and for friendships that would know no such bounties as time. Friendships like theirs.


End file.
